Telephone-call-registering device.



T; J. BYRUM.

TELEPHONE CALL REGISTERING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 6 I915.

Patented Mar.- 21, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

By K

T. J. BYRUM.

TELEPHONE CALL REGISTERING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. a. 1915.

1,176,339. Patented Mar. 21, 19111.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

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' 0 JJ 'JJ 6'6 355 615 THE COLUMBIA FLANOGRAPH .60., WASHINGTON. D, c.

T. I. BYRUM.

TELEPHONE CALI. REGISTERING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 6. 1915.

1,176,339. Patented Mar.'21, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co.. WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TULL J. BYRUM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO 3'. T. FOSSBERG, OF

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TELEIHONE-CALL-REGISTERING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 21, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TULL J. BYRUM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicage, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Telephone-Call-Registering Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to telephone call registering devices, and has for itsgeneral object to provide an apparatus, for installation at the subscribers station, that will require the user of the telephone to register, by his actions necessarily incident to using the telephone, the calls he makes; and that, preferably, enables the call-record eas1ly to be read so that the subscriber may readily keep" track of the extent of use of his telephone and may check up his telephone-bllls. Such an apparatus, as will hereinafter become apparent, may be installed and used in lieu of the pay-station box that customarily is employed on telephones receiving other than unlimited service; and in its operation a single controlling member constituting a permanent, non-removable part of the apparatus may be used over and over in lieu of the nickels or slugs that are employed in operating pay station boxes.

For attaining these and other objects that will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description, my invention consists in the combinations of parts and features of construction and arrangement hereinafter claimed, and that I will now describe with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of' the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 22 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2'. Fig. at is a sectional detail of the register, on line 4:l of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a section on line 55 of Fig. 2. Figs. 6 and 7 are horizontal sections on lines 66 and 77 of Fig. 2. Fig. 8 is a detail of a ratchet and pawl; and Fig. 9 is a. detail of the controller.

In the drawings 10 indicates in general a cas ng inclosing the caILregister, controllerswitch and other parts that are to have working association with the controller 11. The controller 11, that may in some aspects be regarded as a substitute for the coin or token-such as is used-in an ordinary pav station box, may'obviously take various forms,

but itis herein shown as consisting of a circular metallic disk or body portion 12, having projecting axially from opposite sides thereof the posts or stems l313. one

projecting stem, as 18, being long enough to be readily grasped in the fingers. This single controller is permanently associated with the casing and is used in effecting every call. It is manually movable, outside of the casing, in a track or guide structure 15 from a. bottom or delivery course 15, up a vertical course 15 and along a top-course 15 to an entrance point at the top of the box. W hen manually dropped into the casing at the entrance point, said controller may take either of two paths according to the operation of an electric switch device, that is preferably potentiated for operation by the controller itself, and that is adapted for selective operation by the central station operator so as to direct the controller into either of said paths. One of said divergent paths I term the idle path; through it the controller may idly return to starting position at the bottom of the external guideway without registering a call. The operator at central will, of course, throw the controller into this path if the called party is busy or for other reason the call is not chargeable. If the controller is switched into the other path, which. I will term the working path, within the casing, its return to starting position n bottom course 15 of the exposed controller-track 15 may be effected only by operations that register a call. I prefer that the return of the controller through the working path to a position for another use shall require manual operations to be performed by the user himself, and that these operations shall positively actuate the registering device.

In the specific construction shown the external track or guide way 15 is a sheet metal structure, preferably in the form of a fiat sided channel adapted to receive the body 12 of th controller, but having opposed slots l7, 17 to receive the stems 13, 13' of the controller. One of these slots, 17, may be covered bv a channel-extension 18 to receive the back post 13' of the controller but the front post 13 of the controller projects through slot 17 so as to be easily grasped. The upper course of the track opens to a cruciform entrance slot 19 in the casingtop and the bottom course of the track opens to outlets 20 and 21, in the bottom of the similar guard 23 may project the entrance 19. l/Vhen the controller is dropped into the entrance opening 19, its body 12 falls between two parallel plates 25 and 26 that are preferably mounted rigidly on the back of the casing, and that have therein guide slots extending vertically as at 27 for a short distance downward and then branching into divergent slots 28 and 29 that respectively define the idle path and the working path of the controller, each of these slots extending to the bottom of the casing and respectively opening through the return exits 20 and 21. For stabilizing the relative positions of the parts into which the plates 25 and 26 are thus divided the slots in said plates may be bridged over by channeled bridges 30, 31 and 32, throughout any desired portion of their extent, these bridges being channeled to a suitable depth so as not to interfere with the movements of the stem portions of the controller, and being cut away wherever necessary to give the controller access to such moving parts as coact therewith. The idlepath to the outlet 20 is unobstructed. The working path to the outlet 21 has associated therewith such mechanism that, for the passage of the controller back to the outlet 21, the call-register must be operated.

A switch member 35 at the junction of the slots 28 and 29 governs the deflection of the controller into one or the other of said slots.

In the specific. construction shown, the switch member 35 is a metallic tongue, projecting from the armature 36 of a polarized magnet structure 37, said armature being biased as by a spring 36 so as to stand normally in central position so that the switch arm 35 stands in position shown in full lines turn is connectable through the metallic body of controller 11 (when the controller rests on the switch as shown at 11 (A) in Fig. 5) with the frame plate 25 that in turn is connected to binding post 39. Obviously,

one of these binding posts may be connected to ground and the other to the appropriate side of the line so that through the usual battery to ground connection and pole changing switch, at central station (as well known to those skilled in the art) the central operator-mayenergize the polarized magnet 37 at will to throw the switch lever 35 toward either of the controller-paths.

.Vhemunder conditions shown in Fig. 5, the controller 11 is admitted into the working path by movement of switch 35 to the left, the controller passes downto position for coaction with the register controlling mechanism. Slipping down the slot 29 the controller 11 (preferably through its front post 13) preferably first comes in contact with the stem 41 of register actuating button 40 that is held normally in controller-intercepting position by the tension of spring 42 that is contained in housing 43 and that acts against a suitable stop on stem 41. The button stem, so intercepting the descent of the controller 11, prevents any shock from being imparted by the descending controller to the mechanism below. As far as the immediate call is concerned the subscriber need do nothing but drop the controller in at the entrance way 18, and upon establishing the telephone talking circuit the operator will of course throw the switch to direct the controller into the working path where it falls to the position of coaction with button 40, as last described. But before another call can be made, the subscriber must bring the controller back to accessible position in the exposed bottom course of the track or guideway. To do this he first retracts the button 40 to the extent allowed by spring 42, thus permitting the controller to pass the end of stem 41. The controller then lodges in engagement with a portion of the register mechanism, this, in the specific construction shown, being a star wheel 45, provided, for example, with four points or teeth 46 arranged as best shown in Fig. 5. The rearwardly projecting stem 13 of the controller lodges in contact with the active tooth 46 of the-star wheel 45, as shown in position 11 in Fig. 5, and to push the controller downward past the star wheel, the actuating button 40 is now depressed, provision for permitting such depression being made, in the particular construction shown, by mounting the button structure with. its spring housing on a slide plate 47 that travels between guides 48 on the casing wall and that is normally held in raised position by spring 49. The casing wall, of course, is slotted as at 50, to permit movement of the button 40. As the controller 11 is depressed by the button stem 41 acting on its outwardly projecting post 13, its inwardly projecting post 13 turns the star wheel a quarter turn, until the controller arrives at the position indi cated at C in Fig. 5. F r0111. thispoint the controller may drop freely through the outlet 21 to starting position in the lower course of the exposed guide way.

The shaft 52 for star wheel as constitutes the main shaft of a suitable register, generally indicated at 53, by which the number of calls is recorded, this register having its reading dial exposed as through a glass face plate 54 at the side of the casing. Of course this specific construction of the register may be widely varied but for purposes of simple illustration I have indicated the register as comprising a series of record wheels 55 56 etc, mounted on shafts 56 56 etc., between supporting plates 57 and 58 that are mounted on the back wall of the casing, these shafts carrying indicator hands 59, 59, etc., associated with the units, tens, hundreds, etc., dials of the register. Intermediate wheels 60, 60", etc, and appropriate pinions complete the train, a suitable gearing for the purpose described being afforded by mounting a sixteentoothed pinion 61 on shaft 52 meshing with the forty-toothed gear 55 that, through a ten-toothed pinion 62 drives the fortytoothed intermediate gear 6O which in turn, through a sixteen-toothed pinion 63, drives the succeeding register gear 55", this 10 to 1 driving ratio being maintained throughout the series. Of course, a one way ratchet and pawl mechanism 65 is preferably provided in connection with shaft 52 to prevent any possibility of reverse rotation.

In a brief resume of the operation of the apparatus it will be apparent that the single control element, 11, constantly retained in its track 15 as a non-removable element of the apparatus, may be manually moved by the subscriber from normal position at the bottom course of the exposed track up. to entrance opening 19 and dropped into the register box, wherein, in its descent, it is stopped by switch-arm 35 and thereby establishes electrical connection for the switchcontrolling magnet 37. At the will of the central operator, exercised through the agency of said magnet 37, the switch may be thrown in either direction laterally, so as to direct the controller into either the idle return path 28 that leads the controller unobstructedly back to the starting point, on the one hand, or to direct said controller into working path. 29 on the other hand. If thrown into this working path, the control ler must, in order to complete its descent, turn the star wheel 52, so as to actuate the register mechanism to indicate one call and the passage of the controller past this star wheel 52 is preferably controlled manually by the subscriber through the agency of the actuating button 40. This button 40 has lateral movement to permit the controller to pass into engagement with the register wheel and has vertical sliding movement by which said actuating button may positively force the controller past the star wheel for escape through the outlet 21 into the lower course of the exposed track way.

While I have herein described in some detail a particular embodiment of my invention for purposes of full disclosure, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that many changes in the construction and arrangement of parts and particularities of their operation may be made without cleparture from the spirit of my invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a telephone call registering appliance the combination of a casing, a structure within said casing affording a controller path, opening at its ends to the exterior of the casing, registering means associated with said path to register each passage of the controller therepast; a controller, and means affording an accessible controller path exterior to the casing completing, with the structure within the casing, a complete circuit for the controller, maintaining the controller in permanent association *ith the casing.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a casing, of a controller-track, external to said casing communicating with the interior of said casing at entrance and exit points, means within said casing affording a working path for controller passage between said track entrance and exit, registering mechanism asso ciated with said working-path, and means operable positively to move said controller through a portion of said path and thereby to operate the registering means.

3. The combination, in a device of the character described, of a casing, an external controller track leading between entrance and exit openings at different portions of the casing, means within said casing providing a controller path between said openings, a controller, manually operable means for moving said controller through a portion of its path within the casing, and registering means within the casing operable by said controller in the course of its manually impelled movement.

a. In a device of the character described, a casing, track-structure forming a circuit partly external to and partly within the casing, said structure within the casing divided into two branches, one constituting an idle, free return path to the external part of the track, the other constituting a working return-path to the external part of the track, a single controller permanently engaged in the track, said controller having a handlestem for extending through a slot in the exposed part of the track, and registering means arranged to indicate each passage of the controller through the working-path portion of the track.

5. In a device of the character described, a casing, track-structure forming a circuit partly external to and partly within the easing, said structure within the casing divided into two branches, cne constituting an idle, free return path to the external part of the track, the other constituting a working return-path to the external part of the track, a single controller permanently engaged in the track, said controller having a handlestem for extending through a slot in the exposed part of the track, means coacting with said stem forcibly to move the controller through said working path, and registering means arranged to indicate each passage of the controller through the working-path portion of the track. 7

6. In a device of the character described, a casing, track-structure forming a circuit partly external to and partly within the casing, said structure within the casing divided into two branches, one constituting an idle, free return path to the external part of the track, the other constituting a working return-path to the external part of the track, a single controller permanently engaged in the track, said controller having a handlestem for extending through a slot in the exposed part of the track, means coacting with said stem forcibly to move the controller through said working path, and registering means operable by said stem arranged to indicate to each passage of the controller through the working-path portion of the tracln 7. In a device of the character described the combination of a controller, a casing, registering means associated with said casing, means for operating said registering means through the agency or" said controller, a controller guiding structure within the casing providing a'working path arranged to position said controller, in its movement therethrough, to require operation of the register before permitting further movement of the controller through said path and external track means for guiding the controller through a closed path in manual movement between the extremities of said working path.

8. In a device of the character described, the combination of acasing providing an external track from the bottom position to a top position, means within the casing affording a controller passage oranchmg into an idle path and into aworking path, both leading to said external track, said idle path being unobstructed and said working path being provided with a controller-obstruction, a controller permanently associated with said track and passage to travel therethrough, electro-respcnsive switch means for directing the controller into either of said branch paths, and means, operable by passage of the controller past said obstruction in the working path, for registering a call.

9. In a device of the character described, the combination of a casing providing an external track from the bottom position to a top position, means within the casing affording a controller passage branching into an idle path and into a working path, both leading to said external track, said idle path being unobstructed and said working path being provided with a controller-obstruction, a controller permanently associated with said track and passage to travel therethrough, electro-responsive switch means for directing the controller into either of said branch paths, means operable by passage of the controller past said obstruction in the Working path, for registering a call, and means for positively moving said controller past said obstruction.

10. In a device of the character described, the combination of a casing having an external controller track from a top entrance to two bottom exits, means within the casing afiording a controller path branching from said entrance to both of said exits, one said branch affording an idle path that is unobstructed to its exit and the other said path being a Working path, electro-responsive switch means for directing a controller to either path, registering mechanism having a star wheel associated with theworking path to obstruct controller-passage, acoutroller, and manually operable means for positively moving said controller past said register star wheel necessarily to its return to the external track through the working path thereby to actuate the register.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

TULL J. BYRUM. In the presence of J. T. FossBEno, MARY F. ALLEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Eatents, Washington, D. G. 

